Get Talking Chinese: Mandarin Chinese for Beginners

Having already sampled several beginner books and other materials for Mandarin Chinese, I have to say that I was immediately impressed with Get Talking Chinese: Mandarin Chinese for Beginners because it seemed so modern, accessible, and fresh compared to others. This friendly, approachable book captured my attention and interest, and I wanted it for my own library. It isn't a large book, and it is geared to young learners. However, it packs a lot of helpful, easy-to-understand information inside for many beginners of all ages. The motivated reader can connect instantly with the language and its people, which, in turns, inspires more time-on-task, more learning, more discovery, and more success. Learning Chinese should be fun, not intimidating. This book proves that it can be with the right start. Bright, well-formated lessons and graphics include cool facts. memorable images, and humor. For example, to learn the Chinese word / character for the concept of "big," the reader encounters a page (#47) that is decorated with a huge, red Chinese character representing "big" in the middle of the page, with a tiny character meaning "small" beside it. (I remember these individual characters now because of that page! LOL ) Fun Facts? This book has them. I never knew that Jackie Chan's mom called him "Pao Pao" (meaning "cannonball") when he was a baby (Chinese Names / Page 38). I also was clueless as to certain aspects of Chinese meal etiquette before studying this book, pages 88-89-->Whatever you do, "Don't flip the fish!" :) And there are certain no-nos with chopsticks!WHAT I LIKE:Really, the book is like a quick little "first" tour of Chinese language and culture. I like how the book's lessons express the language in both visual and audio terms...making this a genuinely interactive experience. Directions, discussions, and practice pages are clearly given (big, readable text) and clearly spoken (audio). The fold-out front jacket cover has Pinyin pronunciation tables that are matched to Tracks 1 and 2 of the included CD. The cover also offers a playlist for the whole CD so tracks can be found quickly for review. The back fold out cover jacket has a lovely little map of China that pinpoints the location of interesting places such the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and the Dazu Rock Carvings. The book provides a Table of Contents, a "Useful Words" reference list, and an Index. My favorite lessons from this book are the following: Characters; Memory Tips; Easy Grammar; Birthday Party; Chinese Names, Food; and Lunar New Year. The Conversation Practice pages are a great way to test one's learning and confidence.WHAT I WOULD CHANGEI would have preferred a hard cover edition with a strong back cover to store the audio CD. Storage of the audio CD is the front cover in the edition I have. To use the book the way I like to when I work quietly, I have to remove the CD to avoid cracking it. / Information and specific how to's for colors words would have been a good addition. I would have liked more details and / or specific sample conversations related to buying / bargaining at the market, particularly night markets. I would have loved more information about the mooncakes. [Makes me wish the publishers would do a Get Talking Chinese II if they haven't already!]LANGUAGE CHOICESSome readers will probably want more meat (content) than what is provided in this book. It is a simple introduction to Mandarin Chinese. That's okay! One has to begin somewhere, and this book is a good, non-threatening beginning. No living language can be truly appreciated or learned from only one source; the human element must always be a part of the process if the learner seeks to advance with any sincerity. With adult guidance and participation, this book might be a fun activity for young learners and families, particularly those who are homeschooling and who want to include a does of cultural / langauge studies. Connecting to Chinese people and practicing concepts from this book adds a richer depth to the language education experience.Overall, I am very satisfied with this book and its intended purpose: to get talking Chinese! DK books are usually high interest, quality books with amazing images and content, so even before mine arrived, I felt like it would be a worthy product based on the publisher's reputation. I happily ordered a second copy of this book to donate to our local library, in much need of fresh language learning materials that appeal to today's media-savvy learners! :)

I bought this book for my boyfriend hoping that he could learn some Chinese in a more systematic way. I would say the book gives you quick ways to learn the basic expressions and also introduces some basic cultural experiences in Chinese environment.I still think only buying a book is not enough; if the person doesn’t have the inner drive to work on learning another language, it’s not going to work well.So the book is a help but everyone who wants to learn another language needs to really work on that.

I am an international student from China, and I brought this book as a gift for someone. This book does a great job teaching Chinese in an effective and attracting way. It first lists all the pinyin (vowels and initials) you need to know, and you can always go back to this list to see how words are pronounced later on. It finds similar English pronunciations to help you learn. I like this because the pronunciation part is always hard to learn and, for me as a "teacher," to teach and correct. It also has a CD for you to listen. The thing I don't like about this book is that it mixes up the pinyin for a word that includes two or more Chinese characters. This is hard for learner to distinguish. For example, for word "轿车," (car, sedan) the pinyin shows "jiaoche." It confuses some learners because they think that "jia" is the individual pinyin for the first character, but actually "jiao" is the pinyin for the first character and "che" is for the second. So I wish the book can mark the pinyin separately, like "Jiao[space]che."

Looks like a great book to get me started learning Chinese. The CD was cracked when I received it, but no big deal. I was able to convert what I needed to mp3.

I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in beginning Chinese. Super easy and fun to read!

This is a very good book. I can see that it includes a lot of information and is well put together. I am also impressed with the lessons on Chinese script, Chinese culture, and general Chinese experiences. The only bad thing that I can say is that I bought this book from a third party seller on Amazon and they did not include the cd. I will now have to order another copy to get the cd, because I can see that it is quite an integral part of the whole experience. But just from reading and studying the book, I am willing to give this five stars.

I was so excited to purchase this study book after reading all the excellent reviews, and it does seem like it will be a great tool to learn basic Chinese, but because most laptops no longer have CD drives, I cannot use the CD without purchasing an external CD drive. With so many people using laptops and tablets, why do these study books not come with digital access codes to access the audio online? I tried to use my work computer to transfer the audio to both my personal Google drive and onto a flashdrive but because the disk is protected, all attempts failed. If you want people to be able to use your products, perhaps its time to consider how technologies have changed and adapt.

Very basic but not for someone who knows nothing.should have a very basic knowledge.

If only more language books were like this! Very colourful, engaging and easily-paced, this book is an excellent beginners guide. Well worth the money for anyone interested in starting to learn the basics of Mandarin!

Yes it is for beginners but I found it useful for everyday conversations and pronunciation. I use the CD in my car when travelling to work.

thank you very much indeed! Perfectly packaged, fast delivery and a truly fascinating read and listen if you are dedicated to learning.

This small book is a good but short introduction to China's lifestyle and Mandarin Chinese. This is the staying-at-home version of the traveler's phrase dictionary (though not as detailed). Buy this if you are not sure if you want to learn Mandarin Chinese, but want to see if learning the language is worth your while. If you do like it, expect to spend $$$$ to get the required books.The fonts are big and very easy to read. Lots of illustrations. The accompanying CD is helpful.Don't bother to buy the accompanying workbook. The workbook does show you how to write some Chinese characters, but if the main text book (not the workbook) perks you interest, then get the Learning Chinese Characters (Tuttle) or/and Learn to Read Chinese Fast (both Simplified AND Traditional Characters) by EZ Chineasy. If you like Chinese/English illustrations on objects, get the Facts on File English/Chinese Visual Dictionary). This big visual dictionary has only black and white illustrations.I rated four because I was expecting much more, though the price and the number of pages indicate that I should just anticipate a really, really basic test.

The media could not be loaded.  It’s excellent for people starting out with Mandarin, and it really gets you talking! However, if you’ve a bit more advanced goals with your purpose to learn the language, you can combine it with other books as per your learning needs. I think the only little (very little) drawback is that the audio support comes in the form of a CD, so you should have a CD driver to play it, or arrange for one. In all and all, this is a great book to get started with Mandarin!